Daily Planning. The bulletproof system

You have probably read and listened a lot about the importance of keeping a good planning habit to be more effective in reaching your goals. A consistent planning system will allow you to clearly define the outcomes you want to achieve, and put in place the actions to eventually get there.

However, what those articles and talks usually fail to provide is the practical application of all these good sounding intentions. For this reason, I decided to put together a two-articles series to share with you which my planning system is, and how are the day-to-day routines I follow that make sense of it. These articles are a group of practical steps in which I describe the apps, timing and tools used to make it happen, avoiding empty talk and bravado.

1. Why two articles

If you think of planning as the way of organizing your daily tasks as an ordered sequence of actions or responsibilities that need to be processed, namely a to-do list, you will not be wrong…what you would be is swimming in the sea of incompleteness. Here is why:

A to-do list is a series of tasks that are defined for you in a daily basis, taking into account eventualities that had happened, are happening or will probably happen. So you plan your day accordingly to these happenings, right?? well wrong!…

Of course, you have to take into account the situations that surround every different day during your working hours and act upon them, but the major part of the basis of your daily list has to rely upon a more strategic approach. This means that your to-do’s need to reflect your mid to long-term objectives and goals for you to be able to reach them and for the tasks to have a purpose. For that reason, I believe that the first step in creating a to-do list should be looking to the objectives and long-term personal goals, which leads us to the point in which to create an effective planning system, we better combine two different approaches:

1. A place (call it worksheet, paper or a blackboard) where you define the goals, outcomes and mid to long-term plans you want to reach in both your personal and professional life. A roadmap, a place where you put white over black, what do you want to achieve and within which scope. What I call a “Personal Dashboard”.
2. Your daily to-do list. The place where you put together a sequence of the tasks you have to accomplish in a given day and that, as their most, should bring you closer to the objectives defined in your personal dashboard.

Contrary to the order of listing I will start with the second, a system to effectively plan everyday tasks and responsibilities, leaving the personal goals repository in the scope of the second article of this series. I did this for a variety of reasons, but mainly because: a) the way of organizing your daily to-do’s is immediately and easily applicable, and will throw amazing results from the first day of is application b) we wil be in a much better position to define and understand our goals and the purpose of the “Personal Dashboard” if we have a consistent system in place to get us there. So let’s build the daily planning system.

2. Set your path

As per the saying goe, the best plan is the one that is executed. For planning to have a real impact in your outcomes and dramatically improve the results of your working day, you must be consistent about aplying it.

A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.

— George S. Patton

The easiest way to achieve this is by fitting the planning time in your normal schedule or, better said, your usual way of operating. When in the day do you usually prep your to-do list? or, if you do not keep one (seriously, you should), when do you set in your head the tasks you want to tackle during the day? Is that in the morning when you just arrive to work? is it at the end of the day?

The experts and gurus in productivity and list-making masters, state that the best approach is to prepare your to-do list at the end of your day, right before locking up your desk. Personally, this is the way I operate. However, I do not really believe in “one size fits all” solutions, and would advice you to do the planning and apply the system, in the moment you already do. This way, it will not only be less difficult to integrate, but you will have a better chance to convert it into a habit.

What I do advise then is that, once you decided which timing works best, set clear rules about it. Two simple lines with the time and days will do the trick. As an example, here is how it goes mine:

• Every Weekday: Day Planning — 15 min — at 18.00h
• Every Friday: Monday & Weekend Planning — 30 min. — at 14.00h

This second line lies more into the personal preferences group, but in my experience (and a lot of bloggers back me on this) make some planning on your weekend usually gives you some structure and allows for enjoying it as its most and get the best of it. I am not talking about a detailed schedule, but a simple listing of the things you want to do will make clear your priorities and make room (or close it) bor the things you really want to enjoy your weekend with.

For example:

• Sat morning: Kayaking
• Sat Night: Dinner with friends
• Sun Morning: Laundry

Simple advice, just fit this proved system into what you already are used to do. Odds are, the transition will be smoother than you think.

Another think I strongly recommend is to make a clean up once a month. If you apply this system properly, you will be capturing tasks, ideas and actions constantly and odds are that you will create some clutter in your lists. 10 minutes in a given day per month to eliminate or delegate the tasks you do not need to do anymore, you have finished or have just expired will put some order back in your daily roadmap.

3. Select “the app”

While this article focuses more in the methodology than in the tech specifics, the choice of an adequate app does have a crucial impact. So much that, if is difficult to use in accordance to the system, can break its benefits entirely and end up with you giving up in implementing it.

Having used quite a few by myself, i have tried to simplify this choosing for you. Mainly trying to cut out the noise and focusing on the few that do the cut of being flexible enough to be adapted to our system and extremely easy to use, so they become enjoyable to use constantly.

Todoist

Todoist is my go to app. The one I personally use daily and the one I strongly recommend. It is simple to use but it has tons of features complementing its simplicity. It is like a Swiss knife for task management and is super compatible. The company offers apps for every imaginable platform and extensions for Outlook and Chrome. I challenge to find a place whether in your computer or in your phone/tablet, where you cannot get Todoist to work.

You could imagine my preference for this app since I already featured in a previous article. I then recommend you to setup this app and give it a shot. Therefore, this article features examples using this app although of course you can follow along with your own since the system is still useful applied for almost any single to-do app out there.

Depending on the type of time management you practice or you need to practice, your needs may vary quite considerably. I have been there too, when you have to work with a team and need to work synchronously. For that we also have you covered when some recommendations:

- If you need team collaboration and sharing, my favorite by its simplicity, price (starts free) and short learning curve is Trello. You can use the app as a simple To-Do list or adapt it to Kanban or GTD systems quite easily. Check out the tutorial videos on its web page and give it a shot. In my company, is our corporate collaborative app, and we use it for everything.

- If putting context to your To-Do’s is your thing, use Evernote and set reminders. Maybe not a formal task management app, but certainly so flexible that can be used for anything. Check out this tutorial [link] to use it as your GTD platform.

- If you are more into paper, check out the GTD official templates or just go back to the old-fashioned yet effective post-it :)

Select the one that best suits your needs or preferences and download it in all your devices. Bookmark it in Chrome to make it accesible everywhere, even if it is not a device you own. Make it impossible to not be able to access it.

4. Integration is key

As in forming any new habit, making things as easy as possible is the best way to ensure you stick to the routine. If you are like the majority of modern professionals, you are using an electronic calendar to track your meetings and appointments besides a to-do list app, ideally Todoist, at least.

Now imagine that anytime you add a calendar appointment or someone invites you in a meeting, it showed up into your to-do app, automatically, integrating the best of both apps and ensuring you never miss an important event because you focus too much on your mundane tasks(Ok, maybe that is too exaggerate).

That, and a whole bunch of other useful automation pairs, are possible with IF (formerly IFTTT, acronym of If This Then That), a service that allows to create connections between apps and services through “recipes” that trigger a defined action in a service when an event in the other occurs. For our purpose, there are plenty of community defined recipes that will help to integrate the various productivity apps we use.

If you follow along using Todoist and you are a Google Calendar user, there is no better recipe than this one, which automatically creates a task in Todoist when an appointment or meeting is created or accepted in Calendar, super useful.

I defined the settings of the recipe to store the new task on my #Inbox (for later processing) and start with the word “Cal |” to better identification.

Be sure to take a look at the Todoist channel in IF, which stores some more useful automation recipes or just create your own. Likewise, if you use any other app to list your To-Do’s like Wunderlist or Trello, there is surely some useful connections ready within IF.

5. The system

Follow along this bullet points for a month, and you will become so accustomed to it that it will be like your morning shower:

a. List and capture

One of the best parts of having your app available wherever you are is that you have the chance to capture the tasks and thoughts whenever they come to your mind. To be fair, is the best feature a planning system can possibly have. Otherwise, what is the point of planning if you forgot what you had to do or that great idea that showed up in your mind while on the shower?

Take advantage of the ubiquity of Todoist and capture your ideas whether with your smartphone, tablet, desktop app, email add-in or browser. You do not have excuses on this. The best approach is, when capturing or adding a new note, just list it in the #Inbox for later processing. This way you do not have to waste time in each task you list and can batch the process later.

When capturing or adding a new note, just list it in the #Inbox for later processing

The iOs and Android apps have widgets pre-setup within the app that make adding a new task a breeze, but here is a quick tip: Todoist is fully compatible with Google Now, so you can configure it once and add a task with your voice in two seconds.

Be conscious that you have a great tool to capture everything and use it intensively.

b. Assign to a Subproject or a Project (worst case)

Now, let’s put some structure in our application and create some categories or projects. Depending on how you see your work and personal life this may vary but I recommend creating the following and adding some more specific subprojects nested to them. I created five primary levels that create the main structure of my list:

• Work: Nesting the different projects or areas below it.
• Side Projects: Here I list those projects and ventures that are out of the scope of my formal job.
• Personal: All the admin tasks, shopping list, errands and many other different lists that lie within the personal category.
• Ideas: An important part of this system is that allows you to capture the thoughts and brilliant ideas that come to mind wherever you are. List them below this category.
• Training: Courses, video training, conferences or whatever appointment or education program that serves as a personal or professional improver goes listed here.
• Buffer: There are moments when you probably come short in urgent tasks to do but still have so many things you want to accomplish. List in Buffer all the tasks to perform when you have an hour or two free. They do not need to be work related or even concrete. I have listed here things like “Travel planning”; “Read & explore”; “Web maintenance”; “Task automation”

So, when planning set time arrives (ideally in the afternoon), be sure to assign every task to a project. Well, ideally you should assign them to subprojects which are more specific and concrete, but more abstract to-do’s like phone calls or meetings can go in the upper level projects.

This creates a perfect division in where our time goes and can serve for further reporting or control if we want to.

Plan also your email times. Email is super useful if used as a non-immediate method of communication but it can become a productivity killer if we let it manage us instead of the other way around. The best approach for this is setting times to process messages in batch. Twice a day for 15 minutes each will suffice for the majority of us and will save tons of unnecesary inbox checks and refreshes. If an email requires an action from you, longer than a couple of minutes, convert it into a task in todoist.

c. Put a date and an starting hour

Be specific with your day and list every single task attached to a date and concrete hour when it should start. If you just list them with no timely manner, it becomes a wish list or a realistic roadmap to your day, as simple as that. The notation in Todoist can go as simply as:

Quick tip: using the keystroke CTRL + q in Windows or Shift + Cmd + a in Mac automatically shows the “Add task” popup no matter where the active window of your computer.

Take into account breaks and possible unforeseen events. Meetings, unplanned gatherings or simply stopping your work to help a colleague for a few minutes just happen and, to be fair, are an important part of forming bonds and professional relationships, but if they sum up, can derail your plan if it is to strict. Being realistic, we must give some room in our plan for the unplanned. Create a task called “Buffer time” and make it recurrent to happen every day. Allocate between 1.5 to 2 hours a day and assign an hour when better fits your schedule. I put it at 16.00h every day, this way I can first use this time to finish the previous tasks that I did not finish if it happens to be that way or just move to the buffer category and do some of the ones listed there. Be flexible, sometimes grabbing a cup of coffee, chatting with a colleague or having a walk around the block will improve your day way more than just working for the sake of working.

d. Estimate a duration for your task

Once listed, put an estimated but realistic duration in your task description. Write it in minutes, hours (my fav) or pomodoro sessions, whatever you prefer, but and here is the important part of this point, be generous when setting the length of your to-do’s. Human beings tend to be quite optimistic regarding their productivity, speed and concentration capabilities, and we constantly underestimate how difficult or prone to lengthen a task is. In spite of the existence of buffer time, just add a 20% more to your initial forecast of the length of a task and you will be just fine.

e. Select your MIT

When you finish listing and scheduling your To-Do’s, you most likely end up with a list that will have you working until midnight and not finishing everything. Let’s plan backwards.

First, choose the time when you want to leave your office and put it as the finish line for your to-do list.

Then, and here is the most important, choose your three MIT (Most Important Tasks) for the day. The three things that move the needle and that if accomplished will call your day a productive one. You can mark them using the acronym [MIT] before the description of your task or, in Todoist, assign a priority flag by clicking in the options of a task, this is the one that I use:

f. Reschedule and prioritize accordingly

With your MIS selected, your list probably does not make much sense by that time. Put the three MIS at the top of your list and perform them either first thing or when you hold your peak productivity hours, but do not leave your desk or wherever you work without finishing them. I actually prefer to tackle them first thing in the morning, when I have my mind fresh and ready after a good workout, but this varies from person to person.

After putting first things first, put the rest in order. Sort them in order of importance, economic or career impact and throw the ones that do not fit in your schedule and specified working hours. If they have some impact, schedule them appropriately for tomorrow or the end of the week, if, making an honest exercise, results that they do not actually have any impact or can be managed by someone else, just delegate or delete them and focus on the ones that matter.

This system, as it puts things black over white, is great in preventing you from cheat yourself and put everything in your plate. Just do not do it, and put ahead the things that can really move your career and or life ahead.

g. Stick, Stick, Stick

Now after barely 15 minutes of planning you have your roadmap for the day set. As we said before, if you do not follow it, forming and implementing this habit is quite pointless. Make the best to follow your To-do’s and you will inmediately see the benefits and outcomes it provides for your professional life. It will provide a great structure that will lead you to cross of the things that really make progress and you will soon notice that your career, skillset and personal enjoyment progress at a much faster pace than they did when you just went with the flow.

When starting to follow your plan, there will be times when you come along demotivated, because of some unplanned events, meetings or a mistake have turned your plan for the day in a non-sense wish list. Relax. Keep in mind that we already allocated some buffer time for that unforeseen happenings and if that is just not enough, no worries, follow the next advice in this article and remember that it does not matter what you do in a day, a couple or a week but what you do consistently and continuously. Flexibility has to be also part of every system and, honestly, part of a fun life too.

f. Re-plan before lunch time if necessary

You planned your morning and started tackling your tasks but before lunch you realize that some of the to-do’s you listed took more time than planned and those two 30-minute calls have derailed your workday. Put a smile in your face, grab a glass of water and take 5 minutes to put things in order:

1. Reallocate the unfinished tasks of the morning as the first for the afternoon.
2. Diminish your “Buffer Time” to make room for them but do not remove it entirely, since the most likely is that more unforeseen things keep happening. Leave at least 45 min.
3. Reschedule the tasks that do not fit in your working hours for tomorrow or, if they are important, consider taking a half an hour overtime (being realistic when you really have to finish out things is also a sign of professionalism).
4. Revisit your priorities if necessary and resort the tasks. Keep in mind that if you continuously need to do this, you probably need to reconsider your criteria in the first place.

6. Bonus tip: Delegate

Sometimes, depending on our professional position or even personal environment, we use to tackle tasks that do not add much value or that can be performed by someone else at more cost effective or even higher quality fashion. Do not be fooled by what the majority does and benefit from outsourcing those tedious administrative tasks, your home cleaning or that web development that gets your nerves out.

Nowadays is easier than ever thanks to services like Fivver, TaskRabbit, oDesk, Helpling, eLance or Fancy Hands. With a couple of clicks and maybe some training at the beginning you can delegate certain tasks or even get yourself a Virtual Assistant and enjoy the great feeling of having someone else helping you while you do things that add more value to your organization or you know, just sip some margaritas at a nice Mexican restaurant.

I recommend to take a risk free approach to this. Start with small tasks first, give it a shot and add more afterwards. Do not be penny wise and pound foolish, and feel the freedom of increased freedom in exchange of a small amount of cash.

If you liked this article, I loved to talk and discuss with you about it. Please leave a comment in the section below and let’s chat.